Tag Archives: christmas

It’s the Modern Kiddo ornament party! Featuring pilgrim of draw*pilgrim!!

When I was in elementary school, we learned how to make crafty ornaments from recycled Christmas cards! You would cut circle shapes out of your old cards, score them in triangular thirds and then glue them together to make a fun-n-festive sphere to hang on the tree.


image: cathie filian

They take a little bit of time, but they look pretty darn cute:

You can even embellish with a bit of glitter when you’re done or try cutting your circles with a scalloped edge like Martha did. You can find a great tutorial on how to do these at Junk Mail Gems.


image: martha stewart 2009

For today’s fun Kiddo Ornament, the brilliant Pilgrim (of the magnificent Draw! Pilgrim) came up with a modified version that is both cute and completely simple for little fingers to put together.

Unlike the traditional triangle fold, this ornament uses a much easier square fold. Simply print out your Modern Kiddo-themed ornament on card stock. If you don’t have card stock handy, you can print on regular printer paper and used a glue stick to glue the entire sheet to another piece of paper to make it a bit thicker—you could use wrapping paper, construction paper, whatever you like!

Next cut out each circle separately—you will have six of them. Carefully fold the red-portion of the design up (towards the center) so it is at a 90 degree angle. Using a glue stick, attach the red flap of one circle to the flap of another until you have made a 6-sided cube.

Use a hole-punch on the top and thread a piece of ribbon through to hang your ornament. Easy peasy! Of course, feel free to let the kiddos embellish with glitter.

Adorable! The amazing Pilgrim is not only a supremely talented artist (mark my words, she’s going to be the next Orla Kiely some day!) but she is also a terrific mum. Here’s her charming little lad Donovan:

What a cutie! Thank you SO much Pilgrim. Also, please be sure to stop by Pilgrim’s Etsy shop and blog—her whimsical, vintage inspired style is sure to make you smile from ear to ear!

While you’re at it, add her on Twitter too! She is as clever as she is talented!

Pilgrim, thank you ever so much for this delightful ornament! We heart you big time!

Download your exclusive modern kiddo ornament template right here.

It’s the Modern Kiddo Ornament Party! Featuring Kristin of klt:works!

While poking around my inspiration files, I stumbled upon this photo from a 1966 issue of Better Homes and Gardens:

It’s fun to make your own ornaments and there are boatloads of fancy tutorials out there…but there was such a charming simplicity to these that I loved. It got me thinking, what’s more fun than a simple ornament that you can simply cut, glitter up and hang on the tree with a ribbon?? So I reached out to some of my fabulous friends and asked them if they would create a special ornament especially for Modern Kiddo readers….and I was thrilled when they said YES! Just you wait til you see these amazing creations. We’ll have one-a-day (“plus vitamins!”) for the next few days as we count down til Christmas.

Today we are pleased as punch to feature these adorable winter woodland creatures ornments from my amazing friend Kristin—of klt:works.

I know, HOW CUTE ARE THESE LITTLE GUYS??? The ladybug, the owl and the leggy bird…each as festive as the next!  Simply click here to download the ornament sheet and print it out. You can print on thicker paper OR print on regular paper and then use a glue stick to glue the sheet to a thicker paper or construction paper. Use scissors to carefully cut around each critter. A hole punch at the top completes the ornament and yer ready to hang! (Can we also discuss that AMAZING CARDBOARD TREE?? Kristin you are so awesome….)

I love the stripy baker’s twine Kristin used, but a ribbon or even plain string would work dandy! Leave them “as-is” or embellish with a touch of glitter (just image the lady bug with sparkly spots!).

Download your ornament here. Ornaments are for personal use only!

This is the lovely lady behind these fabulous ornaments:

Kristin is an incredible artist who creates the most fabulous pieces—lucky for us she sells a selection of them at her Etsy shop (the mobiles and kiddo clothing are among our faves!). She also has an always inspiring blog, klt:sketchbook that I love to pop by. If you are a long time Modern Kiddo reader you will remember this fabulous room tour we did of her little guy Sayer’s bedroom. Speaking of Sayer, I have to show him off again. He is SUCH a cutie:


I love Sayer’s caps….totally adorable! And the kitty tee is klt:works, of course!

Please show this talented lady some love! Be sure to visit her site and Etsy shop—and while you’re at it, add her on Twitter and Facebook! You can find here here:
Twitter: KLTworks
Facebook: KLTworks

Kristin, thank you so so much for this charming ornament! We heart you big time!

Download your exclusive modern kiddo* klt:works ornament here.

And if you haven’t checked out my special Vintage Christmas Music Mix, download that too!

Oh ho ho! It’s the Little Christmas Glitter Bug!

I’ll be back again this after noon with some fun links, but first….how hilariously awesome is this random little Christmas Ornament?? I was searching on eBay and stumbled upon her. A pixie caterpillar??? How creepalina is that?!? I would have plunked down the cash because she is just so weird and cool, but with shipping she was gettin’ a tad pricey and did I reeeeeally need a pixie caterpillar?

Hmmm. I kind of love her though. Shoot. Maybe I should have bid on her.

*sigh*

Modern Kiddo Presents :: Alix’s Retro Holiday Mix!

Christmas time (and the holidays in general) is without a doubt my favorite time of year! It has been ever since I was a little girl. I love the lights. I love decorations. And I LOVE THE MUSIC. As a result, I have been collecting vintage Christmas records for ages—there is something about a holiday song played on a hi-fi that makes it even more festive. Reminds me of the music my parents would play for us when we were kiddos.

Back in the day, Christmas music was so much more fun and interesting. Nowadays I feel like all we get are the “diva” croonings of the latest R&B star slaughtering an old carol with vocal acrobatics. In the 50s, 60s, 70s people actually wrote new christmas songs and did innovative versions of old standards. There were also TONS of compilations featuring all the stars of the day. I especially loved the album artwork—take a look at just a few of these:

This next one has a rather worn and uninteresting-looking cover (bowl of apples by the roaring fire, anyone?) oh yo, but just you wait! Open this lovely LP up and see what’s inside……

A pop-up house! It’s so cute and adorable….

But on to the REAL reason behind today’s post. As most of you know I’m an obsessive thrifter and vintage lover….and as a result I have amassed a big collection of cheesy-but-delightful holiday records. Over the past years I have wanted to digitize my vinyl as a way to preserve it—and so I could share it with others. I’ve transformed a fair amount of my albums to MP3 and thanks to the help of my super cool friend Spencer (from the awesome SAP Music blog who has one of the best record collections around) I’ve managed to build a fun menagerie of retro MP3s. So I wanted to share with you some of my favorite vintage holiday tunes! So without further ado, presenting:

The ALIXMAS 2010 Retro Holiday Mix!
It’s all goofy cocktails-by-the-fire kinda music. Some highlights?

“Too Fat for the Chimney” — Gisele Mackenzie
“Santa Claus is Coming to Town” — Loretta Young
“A Christmas Song” — Shawn Phillips (sorta dixieland cowboy xmas)

And of course the groovy smooth sounds of David Cassidy
“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”— The Partridge Family

It’s an eclectic mix and I played it non-stop last year. I’ll be putting together some more in the coming weeks. Feel free to link here and share the Christmas love!

{NOTE: MIX IS OFFICIALLY UNLOCKED FOR DECEMBER!}

DOWNLOAD ALIX CHRISTMAS MUSIC MIX HERE.